FRA issues Tier 1 EIS for NEC

Trains Magazine Passenger
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Reading not for the faint of heart. 130+ pages. Best by the bed table. Some highlights. Proposing three alternatives that we are somewhat familar. All platforms either 1020 ft or 1200 ft. New level of service called Metropolitan. 160 MPH seems to be best buy although 220 was listed in Alternate 3. Track improvement diagrams interesting. Bypasses shown on some sections of some routes. look in appendix.Most connecting routes to NEC shown and listed but Downeaster given only short paragraph. Track diagrams do show 2 new East river tunnels from NYP.

http://www.necfuture.com/pdfs/2015_tier1_eis_app_a.pdf

The basic EIS has the above link plus others

http://www.necfuture.com/project_docs/reports.aspx

Have fun.

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Lead article to the EIS

http://www.necfuture.com/

3

Light reading indeed! Any guess as to how much rolling stock would need to be purchased to bring the C and D level alternatives up to the intended capacity? Also, the inland “second spine” trains through Worcester still ends at South Station along side the “Shore Line” trains. I wonder if they shouldn’t operate out of North Station enabling better connections to expanded rail services to New Hampshire and Maine .